Vancouver’s cruise ship season gets underway in tepid water

One day after a lacklustre B.C. budget was tabled, showing the province is diving deeper into the red, the lucrative cruise ship season is setting sail.

The first vessel arrived in downtown Vancouver on Wednesday morning — one of more than 300 that will enter the waters around Canada Place this season, bringing roughly 1.2 million passengers.

Chance McKee, trade development representative for the Fraser Port Authority’s cruise sector, says that following back-to-back record-breaking seasons, this year won’t be the same.

He says the numbers were previously higher because there was so much pent-up demand following the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and this year, one cruiseliner that used to come to Vancouver has shifted its base.

“One of our cruise lines that has been called over the past couple of years, Cunard, actually moved their cruise business down to Seattle and the reason we were provided, is the fact their cruise passengers, which are primarily older cruise passengers travelling from the UK preferred a U.S. departure point, so that is the reason for that seven per cent decline that we’re seeing this year compared to last year.”

McKee says the drop in passengers doesn’t worry him, even in the face of potential cancellations from American passengers amid rising tensions between the two countries.

“There has been no significant impact, negative or positive, on cruise bookings for the 2025 cruise season. It is something we are continuing to monitor.”

McKee says that the port is aiming to make sure that anyone who chooses to come to Vancouver has the “best possible experience, and that’s regardless of whatever external factors may be at play.”

Despite the slight dip in passengers, McKee stresses that the next couple of cruise seasons look promising.

“What we’re looking at for 2026 and 2027 are very strong seasons, potentially record-breaking seasons. In 2026, we also have several new cruise lines visiting the Port of Vancouver,” he said.

“That includes Virgin Voyages, Windstar Cruises, Villa Vie Residences, as well as the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection. And we’re also excited to announce that we are receiving a second Disney cruise line cruise ship, as well as the Disney Magic, which is the sister station of the Disney Wonder. So, 2026 is looking to be another, potentially, record-breaking season.”

B.C.’s deficit in Tuesday’s budget ballooned, and the economic spin-off of the cruise ship industry is welcomed, McKee explains.

“Every year, cruise lines, their passengers, as well as their crew members spend around $1.1 billion just locally. When you break that down, you actually see that cruise lines are spending around $660 million every cruise season on things like local goods and services — activities like provisioning their ships, any sort of maintenance on their ships, repairs, re-fuelling, etc.,” he said.

“When you look at that from the actual passenger side, each passenger spends around $450 each on restaurants, hotels, shopping, local tours and attractions.”

On a national scale, McKee explains Vancouver’s cruise ship industry rakes in about $3 billion and helps sustain more than 17,000 jobs.